Territory



(NoMode'l.)

K. E. STOKER.

WASHING MACHINE. I No. 538,134. Patented Apr*l 23, 1895'.

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KING E. STOKER, OF LOGAN, ASSIGNOR OF ONEHALF TO THOMAS ADAMS OF SALTLAKE CITY, UTAH TERRITORY.

WASHING-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 538,134, dated April23, 1895.

Application led May 18, 1894;. Serial No. 511,694. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, KING E. STOKER, of Logan, in the county of Cache,Utah Territory, have invented a new andd useful Improvement inWashing-Machines, of which the following is -a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide an improved washing machinedesigned to Wash clothes more quickly and thoroughly, and

with the expenditure of but little power'and without tiring the back ofthe operator.

It consists in the peculiar construction and arrangement of the parts ofsaid machine which I will now proceed to fully describe, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure lis a side viewshowing the two rubbers, the near one being partly broken away, theouter case being in section, and the raised position of the coverindicated by dotted lines. Fig. 2 is a plan view with the cover removed,and Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse section.

A represents the tub or casing which is supported upon legs at the fourcorners, and has vertical sides and a semi-elliptical or half roundbottom B made of sheet metal. Just abovethissheetmetal bottomthere isarranged a false bottom of slats C whose ends are secured to the sidesof the casing, and lwhich slats form the bed upon which the clothes aredeposited while being rubbed and cleansed, There are also slats Cf fixedto the sides of the tub and extending up about one third the distancefrom the'bottom to the top. Within the tub upon an axial shaft D` arehung two oscillating rubbers E E arranged side by side and bothconstructed exactly alike. Each has two vertical side boards d a.arranged parallel and having their lower edges cut to the curve of thehalf of an ellipse or oval so that the distance from the axial shaft toeither end of the rubber is greater than the distance from said shaft tothe bottom of the rubber. The two lower curved surfaces of these sideboards are bridged across by parallel slats b to form rubbing surfacesof a half oval shape. The two side boards of each rubber are alsoconnected by an axial tube c which forms a bearing for the axial shaft Dupon which it is 5o hung, which shaft passes entirely through both thesetubes and forms a center of oscillation, the tubes c permitting a freeand easy movement and distributing the wear.

The axial shaft D is sustained detachably upon bearings cl on the innerfaces of the sides of the casing, which bearings are formed at thebottom of parallel vertical guide strips e e on each side which preventit from being accidentallvdisplaced, but nevertheless allow it to belifted out with the rubbers when necessary; f Y

Attached rigidly to the side of each rubber E is a lever handle F whichprojects above the top of the casing in position to be convenientlygrasped by the two hands and worked separately back and forth tooscillate the rubbers in reverse direction.

G is a lid hinged to one side of the casing rand having two slatsffthrough which the lever handle F protrudes and in which they work backand forth.V This lid has a stop bar g attached to it at its hinged edgewhich, when the lid is lifted, strikes against the end of the case andsustains the lid in its raised position. This lid is arranged to turnback and carry with it the two rubbers, and for this p urpose the leverhandles are provided with holes h which, when the lever handles arelifte'd u pwardly through the slots, are adapted to receive hooks i onthe top of the lid which thus connect the rubbers to thelid and allowboth to be turned back out of the way, as shown in dotted lines, whenputting clothes in or p taking them out.

In operating this washing machine the lever handles are grasped in thetwo hands and are worked separately in opposite directions, one beingmoved backward while the other is moved forward. This has apeculiarly-'effective washing effect on the clothes beneath it, as therubbing action of one is in reverse direction to the other, whichprevents the clothes from being rolled up and makes a much more thoroughwashing effect. Furthermore as the rubbers are not of a true circularform, but oval or semi-elliptical, it will be seen that when the rubbersmove in opposite directions their peripheries `or lower surfaces passout of coincidence, the rubber on one side pressing down closer to theclothes on one side of the axial shaft, while the other rubber liftsslightly away from the clothes on the same IOO side of the axial shaftwas shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1. This prevents tearing the clothesby preventing them from being tightly strained by the oppositely movingrubbers, and at the same time gives the clothes a chance to be loosenedup and become saturated with the water under one rubber while beingconipressed and rubbed by the other rubber on the corresponding or sameside of the axial shaft. This is an important feature as it makes a verythorough washing of the clothes and yet does not tear or injure thefabric.

Among other advantages of the reversely acting rubbers I may mention thefact that as the levers are operated one with a push and the other apull alternately, there is no strain on the back of the operator, as thework is al1 done by the arms.

K is an off-setting inclosure at one end of the casing to receive awringer and allow the water from the same to run back into the tub orcasing, and L and M are inlet and outlet connections for cleaning outand draining away the suds left in the tub after washing.

I am aware that it is not broadly new to construct a washing machinewith two reversely acting rubbers hung upon an axial shaft, and I makeno claim to this general construction.

Having thus described my invention,what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

A washing machine having a curved slatted bed or false bottom and twoindependently swinging rubbers arranged side by side above it and havingsemi-elliptical or half oval rubbing faces on their lower sides, andmeans for operating these rubbers independently in opposite directions,whereby the portions of the rubbers on the same side of the axis aremade to alternately approach and recede from the bottom in theirreversed rubbing movements substantially as shown and described.

KING E. STOKER. Witnesses:

J. Z. STEWART, ALFRED PICOT.

